DLWAV CH38

Having thought all this through, Emperor Yuanxi’s mood was exceptionally good for the next few days.

Half a month later, the Emperor’s entourage arrived in the capital.

The first thing he did was summon Ao Ruize.

After listening to Ao Ruize recount a few amusing anecdotes from his bandit-suppression journey and getting an update on the livelihood of the people in various regions, Emperor Yuanxi suddenly looked at him and said, “The reason I bestowed the title of Prince An (Peace) upon you was originally because I hoped you would turn misfortune into fortune and live out your days in safety and peace.”

“But looking at it now, this title seems rather unsuitable for you.”

“What do you think?”

Ao Ruize was momentarily stunned.

Then he smiled. He looked at Emperor Yuanxi and said frankly, “Can this son say that from the very day I recovered from my illness, I felt that the title ‘An’ didn’t quite fit me?”

Emperor Yuanxi was immediately stunned as well.

At his side, the Chief Eunuch Yu Zan couldn’t help but cast an extra glance at Ao Ruize.

Emperor Yuanxi couldn’t possibly have just been idly musing that the title didn’t fit; he was actually probing Ao Ruize’s intentions.

But none of them expected that Ao Ruize would not only directly admit to having thoughts about the throne, but also blatantly tell Emperor Yuanxi that he had been plotting to seize the succession from the moment he recovered.

Thinking about it now, the First Prince and Fourth Prince weren’t the only ones acting recklessly—this Prince An was clearly no less audacious!

Wasn’t he afraid that Emperor Yuanxi would be disgusted by this?

However, a second later, Chief Eunuch Yu Zan realized the truth.

When an incompetent person covets something they shouldn’t, it is called having a heart higher than the sky and being foolish beyond measure.

When a capable person admits their ambition, that is called confidence.

Most importantly, Emperor Yuanxi probably wished for Ao Ruize to be ambitious.

Sure enough, the next second, Emperor Yuanxi, having processed this, couldn’t help but laugh heartily. “Good, good, good.”

He said, “Then it’s settled.”

Consequently, that very afternoon, Emperor Yuanxi issued three decrees in succession.

The first was to reopen the Imperial Selection, which had been suspended for ten years.

The second was to order Prince An to preside over this year’s Spring Rites in his stead.

The third was to promote the Duke of Wei, Xia Jingyao, to Commander-in-Chief of the Five Military Camps and appoint him as the Left Vice Minister of War.

However, when the news spread, it didn’t cause much of a sensation.

Xia Jingyao’s promotion was already within everyone’s expectations. After all, if not for his youth, he should have been promoted when he returned from Yunzhou with Ao Ruize. Most importantly, the Ministry of Justice had recently been able to clear up its chronic corruption thanks to the strategies he had offered; this merit was even greater than his contribution to suppressing bandits with Prince An.

As for Emperor Yuanxi suddenly ordering Prince An to host the Spring Rites in his place—if Prince An were like the First or Fourth Prince, people would inevitably suspect that Emperor Yuanxi had decided to name him Crown Prince.

But Prince An clearly didn’t possess the necessary conditions for that, so no one thought much of it.

Therefore, among the three decrees, the one that caused the biggest reaction was actually Emperor Yuanxi’s plan to reopen the Imperial Selection.

However, everyone assumed Emperor Yuanxi was planning to select a few side consorts for the First and Fourth Princes, and perhaps arrange some for Prince An as well, just to keep up appearances.

For a time, many people’s minds became active.

Of course, their eyes were fixed on the backyards of the First and Fourth Princes. As for Ao Ruize, most dignitaries simply ignored him.

In their view, if Ao Ruize were the Emperor, that would be one thing. At least if they married their daughters to him, they could claim they were sharing the ruler’s burdens, no one would dare gossip openly, and he could still promote their families.

But since Ao Ruize was just a prince, marrying a daughter into Prince An’s manor would be forcing her to be a living widow. Anyone who cared about their reputation wouldn’t do such a thing.

The First and Fourth Princes didn’t need to be told twice.

That afternoon, the First Prince couldn’t wait to enter the palace. His goal was to tell Consort Xian about the candidates he favored, so she could whisper some pillow talk to Emperor Yuanxi and have him assign those women to him.

Consort Xian naturally wouldn’t refuse. After all, this concerned how much political support the First Prince could gain through these marriages.

So, that evening, Consort Xian carried a bowl of tonic soup to Emperor Yuanxi’s bedchamber…

Half a month later, many of the women they mentioned to Emperor Yuanxi were indeed selected.

Then, they all entered Emperor Yuanxi’s harem and became their “younger sisters.”

One can only imagine how green the faces of Consort Xian and her faction were when they heard the news.

While everyone was in an uproar, Ao Ruize didn’t have time to watch the drama. He was currently receiving the officials and new Jinshi (scholars) from Yunzhou and the other three prefectures who had been retaliated against by the Fourth Prince.

Because they were implicated by him, the Fourth Prince had suppressed them heavily recently, so they had been having a hard time.

After learning about their current situations, Ao Ruize simply said, “You should all rest easy and work diligently in your current posts. Strive to learn more. It won’t be long before the Imperial Court entrusts you with heavy responsibilities.”

Hearing this, everyone was startled.

Although they knew Prince An wouldn’t sit idly by regarding their plight, they hadn’t expected him to not only intervene but also plan to promote them heavily.

Was… was this something a Prince who had only recently entered the court could achieve?

Before they could react, Ao Ruize spoke again: “Because of me, you have suffered so many grievances. I feel deeply guilty. Moreover, living in the capital is not easy, so I have prepared a small gift for you. I hope you will not refuse.”

After saying this, the head eunuch, Qu Ji, led servants in carrying out piles of fabric.

Ao Ruize said, “These are products from my estate. They aren’t anything too precious. Take them back and have a few sets of clothes made for the old madams, young ladies, and young masters in your families.”

Just as Ao Ruize said, since it wasn’t anything too valuable, they didn’t decline too strongly.

Of course, that was assuming they didn’t find a three-hundred-tael bank note tucked inside one of the bolts of fabric after returning home.

But before they could even react to the money, the first batch of transfer orders came down.

Over ten officials hailing from Yunzhou and the associated prefectures were assigned to posts in the Six Ministries. Among them, the former Provincial Administration Commissioner of Yunzhou directly replaced the Fourth Prince’s brother-in-law, being promoted to Left Vice Minister of Personnel.

When the news got out, the entire court was in an uproar.

They all thought Emperor Yuanxi was preparing to install the First Prince as Crown Prince.

If not, why would Emperor Yuanxi heavily promote Prince An’s supporters?

In an instant, the number of people visiting the First Prince to offer gifts more than tripled.

The First Prince was in high spirits, unable to resist patting Ao Ruize on the shoulder and saying, “Eighth Brother, when I become Emperor, you shall be the Prince Xian (The Wise Prince). The Great Yang Dynasty will surely march toward a golden age in the hands of us brothers.”

Only a few key court ministers remained silent.

They looked at each other, their intuition telling them that things were likely not that simple.

Meanwhile, the Fourth Prince’s faction was in mourning.

“Prince An… Prince An… it’s all that dog bastard Prince An who harmed me…”

In his study, the Fourth Prince’s eyes were red.

He never expected that Emperor Yuanxi would actually prepare to pass the throne to the First Prince because of Prince An.

Most importantly, the reason Prince An recovered and achieved several great merits this year, gaining Emperor Yuanxi’s appreciation, was all because he had feigned illness back then, causing the disaster relief duty in Yunzhou to fall to Prince An.

He was unwilling to accept this.

He had lived a second life not to continue being a loser.

Just then, as if realizing something, he suddenly laughed. “Since the Eldest wants to rely on Prince An to sit on the throne, then we just need to pull Prince An off his horse, right?”

So, the next day, over a dozen imperial censors and officials from the ‘pure stream’ faction jointly submitted a memorial impeaching Prince An for corruption, perverting the law, embezzling military funds, bribing court officials, and forming cliques for personal gain…

The evidence was that a year ago, he gave five hundred taels to those scholars from Yunzhou, and now, he had given three hundred taels to each of the more than one hundred officials from Yunzhou and the surrounding prefectures.

Where did he get so much money?

One must know that his annual salary was only one thousand taels. Even including the items Emperor Yuanxi had bestowed upon him over the past year, it couldn’t possibly exceed thirty thousand taels.

Realizing this, even the officials of the First Prince’s faction fell silent.

They could argue that the money was given to Prince An by the First Prince.

But what if those censors then asked where the First Prince got the money? How would they explain that?

After all, the First Prince’s annual salary was also only one thousand taels.

However, the key ministers remained silent, simply watching Emperor Yuanxi.

Ao Ruize was not present; he had gone to preside over the Spring Rites in Emperor Yuanxi’s place.

Looking at the people kneeling in the hall, Emperor Yuanxi didn’t know whether to be angry or happy.

Angry, because even if the Fourth Prince had directly raised an army to rebel, he would have respected him more.

Instead, the Fourth Prince had stepped right into the pit Ao Ruize had dug for him.

Happy, because yesterday he had made a bet with Ao Ruize on when the Fourth Prince would use this matter to attack him.

Ao Ruize guessed half a month. He guessed seven days.

Now, he had won.

Thinking of this, Emperor Yuanxi said only two sentences.

The first was: “If you had bothered to carefully investigate the businesses under Prince An’s name before submitting your memorials, you wouldn’t be kneeling here.”

The second was: “The duty of a censor is to monitor the officials and rectify administration, not to engage in fraud for personal gain and exclude dissidents. Strip these incompetent officials of their robes and throw them out of the Meridian Gate.”

With that, he left.

Now, not only did the expression on the Fourth Prince’s face freeze, but even the First Prince was stunned.

Businesses under Prince An’s name?

Didn’t the only businesses under Prince An’s name consist of those few estates by the Li River that Emperor Yuanxi rewarded him with last year?

He heard those estates were later dug up by Prince An to farm pearls…

Wait, pearls?

They immediately thought of a type of South Pearl that had suddenly become popular in the market over the last half-year.

This type of South Pearl was large and perfectly round, crystal clear in luster, with quality equal to or even higher than East Pearls, yet priced similarly. Thus, as soon as it hit the market, it became a favorite of noble ladies.

Many of them were buyers of these very South Pearls.

It couldn’t be—

They hurriedly sent people to investigate Prince An’s estates, only to be told that those South Pearls were indeed farmed in those very estates belonging to Prince An.

How was this possible?

They were in disbelief.

After all, everyone knew that while the Li River produced pearls, the quality was extremely poor; they were considered too gritty even for making pearl powder.

But whether they believed it or not, these were the facts.

And in just under half a year, Prince An had earned nearly one hundred thousand taels of silver from those estates alone. So, the thirty-something thousand taels he gave to those officials was nothing to him.

But before they could get jealous, they were shocked by another piece of news.

Some of the spies they sent out had accidentally bumped into a person at the estate.

That person used to frequent the major brothels in the capital to sell a certain aphrodisiac.

Now, that aphrodisiac had become a hot commodity in the capital, with supply falling short of demand.

Many of them were buyers of this aphrodisiac…

They subconsciously investigated further and found that one of the raw ingredients for that aphrodisiac was actually those South Pearls.

To be precise, Prince An’s estate picked out the high-quality pearls to sell as jewelry, while the poor-quality pearls were all ground into powder and mixed into the aphrodisiac… resulting in remarkable effects.

The entire court: “…”

Emperor Yuanxi, a fellow buyer: “…”

Although he knew his son was capable in every aspect, he didn’t think it would include this aspect.

At that moment, Ao Ruize was holding a box of South Pearls just presented from the estate, preparing to give them to Xia Jingyao to use as rewards for others.

Hearing this news.

Ao Ruize: “…”

Xia Jingyao: “…”

Ao Ruize subconsciously looked at the pearls in his hand.

Xia Jingyao subconsciously looked at Ao Ruize’s lower body, a flash of realization instantly passing through his eyes.

Ao Ruize: “…”

He felt his dignity as a man had been violated (provoked)!

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